[cphastrup]

$1 money bridge tournament. $12 to the winner.

With 3 minutes to go, I have +330 points. I need something big to happen - and that in a hurry. The leader is at about 2000 and the prizes start at about 1200 points.

The Great Dealer hears my needs and I am handed ♠x ♥A10xx ♦AKQJxx ♣Ax. Mrs. Gib on my right opens 3♣, I bash in 6♦ and my partner raises to 7♦in an instant.

Partner tables ♠Axx ♥KQJxx ♦10xx ♣Qx. WOW! TYP - It's a claimer. I play at lightning speed, intentionally leaving all the winners at the table. That way - I hope - the opposing Gibs can "see" that there is nothing to think about. And yet when it comes to the 12th trick, Mr. Gib on my left stalls when he has to find a discard with ♠A played and the good ♥K on table. The 1 minute black warning sign is blinking. I discover myself shouting, my nose inches from the monitor: "Just. Play. A. Damn. Card." The tourney ends. +330 points. Prize: 0$.

Exciting stuff, this MBT.

(Is Gib getting slower? It seems I once used to be able to play a lot more games during the 25 minutes. My internet connection and hardware should be top notch. But maybe it's just me growing older and getting slower )

- Claus


Edit: And yes, it was a vulnerable grand slam

[barmar]

The MBT GIBs all run on the BBO server, so they probably do slow down a bit when there are lots of players in the tourneys (and don't forget that there's another MBT and a Robot Race running at the same time), and the tourneys have gotten bigger . They used to have a 20-player limit, now it's 40 -- I hope they got bigger servers to handle this.